The Hindu Business Line : More needs to be done to fight hunger: Index

Over the last nearly two decades substantial progress has been made in improving food production worldwide and some success has been achieved in reducing hunger and poverty.

Yet, a lot remains to be done in order to ensure higher food output to meet the growing needs of the population and to ensure access to food and make it affordable for the poor and the really needy.

This is the thrust of the latest 2008 Global Hunger Index and India State Hunger Index published by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe.

As many as 33 countries have “alarming” or “extremely alarming” level of hunger. India faces urgent hunger situation, too, despite all the rhetoric of impressive economic growth. The index measures global hunger by ranking countries on three leading indicators and combining them into one index. The three indicators are prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.

Despite improving food security since 1990, South Asia is still home to a very large number of hungry people. Sub-Saharan Africa is even worse.

According to IFPRI, in South Asia (read, mainly India), the major problem is high prevalence of underweight children under five, resulting largely from the lower nutritional and educational status of women, poor nutrition and health programmes, and inadequate water and sanitation services.

According to the first India State Hunger Index, Madhya Pradesh has the most severe level of hunger in the country, followed by Jharkhand and Bihar. On the other hand, Punjab and Kerala score the best on the index, although hunger does not stand eradicated there.

Hungry India

According to the 2008 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 66 out of 88 nations (developing countries and countries in transition). Despite years of robust economic growth, India scored worse than nearly 25 Sub-Saharan African countries and all of South Asia, except Bangladesh, the report points out.

The India State Hunger Index also found that poorer Indian States have substantially higher levels of hunger than their more prosperous counterparts.

The report states that strong economic growth does not necessarily translate into lower hunger levels. Even States with high rates of economic growth in recent years, such as Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra, have high levels of hunger, while States with relatively slower economic growth, such as Punjab, achieved lower hunger level.

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